I have a 2005 RX8, 6 spd, 24,000 miles. How can I get better gas mileage? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Trade it in for a Prius.

Really. All of the things you'd do to get better mileage - keep the revs low, avoid jackrabbit starts, etc. - are just counter to the purpose of the 8. You'd just frustrate yourself trying all that, and still come nowhere near the mileage that a Prius or a Corvette gets.

Ken

 

Weeee!

 

hmmmm, DON"T step on the gas pedal. There really is no way of improving on the gas milage of your RX-8.
Prepare to get some good response to your question.

 

Buy a cheep used economy car for a work car.

 

Hahaha. Ok, I'll bite. The best way to get better fuel econmy is....trade in for a Civic. Seriously. Fuel economy is not the rotary's strong point. BTW, there's a reason why the EPA is revising it's fuel economy ratings; the current method is simply inaccurate and allows manufacturers to publish BS numbers. Prius anyone? I know that doesn't answer your question, but that's simply all there's to it. Of course you can do all the little things. Take everything out of your car, shift at 3k, use the brakes as little as possible etc., but that pretty much defeats the point of driving an 8. Do a search, and you'll see this question has been raised a gajillion times. BTW stay away from "Fuel savers", they are snakeoil, nothing more.

 

ok so today at sams club i noticed this electric scooter

range 12-15 miles
speed 15mph
cost 240 or so

******* A .. if i could only charge it at work for the ride back id already have it

 

Thanks, in other words, there is nothing i can do to improve the gas mileage. Ok, another question, I just bought this car in September, I need to replace the tires. I live in SC and most important to me is not having too much noise. What are you all using? I am thinking of buying Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position or Avon Tech M550 from Tire Rack. Are these good?

 

thats the one
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=5&item=334111
hmm removable bats .. maybe i can just grab it with me and stick it under my desk to charge

 

Yaris!

12840298401 miles to the gallon...and counting.

heh.

-Cody

 

My goal in my 8 is to see how bad of gas mileage I can get. So far I've gotten as low as 10mpg, man I love this car.

 

Get your friends to push your car around. You don't even have to worry about flooding your engine either!

 

I can say with some certainty that my piggy back ECU has increased gas mileage . I am on the pedal a lot accelerating hard so am in "open loop " a lot . This is where fuel is taken away on my maps . Certainly did not buy the piggyback for economy but it is a good side effect.

Pre piggyback : 14 mpg
Now : 15.5 mpg

this is practically all around town mileage with no cruising whatsoever .

 

PM RotaryGod. He said that he can get 18 mpg on any 8 under any driving conditions. He knows these engines well...

try searching, he did post some suggestions before.

 

You haven't taken the car to the racetrack yet. It'll go down.

 

For bad mileage race Honda Civics uphill.
For good mileage coast downhill.

Seriously, try your 8 at different speeds and see where your sweet spots are. We do pretty good on country roads at 38, and on the flats at about 86. Use good gas, keep your battery in good shape, points good, change oil when needed.

We get good mileage but we drive like Grannies cause that's what we are!

 

Since your car already has many miles, it isn't going to get better mileage from here on out. Over the first 6000 miles, I went from 11.9 mpg to peaking out at 13.59 mpg. I'm posting this info so you can be happier with your own mpg numbers, as most people get better mileage than myself.

Like everyone keeps saying, I was typing the first part of this while at Enterprise rent-a-car due to RX8 collision repair, and brought home a school bus that gets 19 or 15.3 mpg according to the dual onboard mpg display memory (cool feature). My RX8 will probably never attain these mpg figures, but that's okay, because this school bus took 4 seconds to get from 60 to 65 mph.

Yep, you have to get a different class of vehicle when the RX8 is in the shop. Only a true sadist could go to driving a compact class vehicle rental. Terribly, this thing is a school bus, but still not as bad as the passenger airliner that the Tahoe rental was.

3 rows of seats school bus

 

Yes Avon's M550 is a good tire if you want A/S. the summer version is better, the M500, but will be useless below about 35 or 40 F.

 

Having lurked on this forum since before the first RX-8 was delivered to the US, I have always wondered about people claiming to get this kind of mileage. I have 1500 miles on my new car- I'm getting around 16 MPG, and that's with some recent wind-ups north of 7000 RPM to flex some muscles in the engine.

If you're REALLY getting mileage like you say you are, I would have a little talk with my service manager- something is wrong: either the car or the driver. Production variances can't count for that much- not in 2006.

 

There are several things you can do to improve gas mileage and they apply to all vehicles not just the RX8. Just because the 8 doesn't get good mileage doesn't mean you can't do things to help during daily commutes.

1. Change driving style. Jack-rabbit starts, aggressive accelaration, stop-and-go traffic all reduce MPG. Some things such as traffic you can't avoid, but normal accelarating and not revving to 9k will help. Shift around 3k. (Although this takes the fun out of the 8, if you want to improve gas mileage you have to cut down on the high revs). Use cruise control on the highway commutes to maintain speed.

2. Tire pressure. Make sure your tires are at the recommended air pressure. The recommended air pressure for most vehicles is listed on the side of the door. Going 2 PSI above that shouldn't hurt. Going too high, you risk hyrdroplaning in the rain and wearing out the tires in the middle.

3. Proper car maintenance. Keep the air filter clean and use the recommended oil change intervals. People seem to forget about the air filters and they can get dirty quickly depending on where you live.

4. Take unnecessary items out of the vehicle. Extra weight in the car reduces gas mileage.

These are pretty much the major tips most people will recommend. Happy driving!

 

Those Avon Tech tires aren't bad, my friend has those and they are quieter than the stock Bridgestones IMO.

I've got Kumho Ecsta SPTs on mine, and I love them, pretty quiet and good performance.

 

walking is another good way to get better mileage

 

Enjoy the 8 while gas is still for sale!

Or - buy a scooter for those days you are still interested in saving money (this is my secret plan please don't share it!). Some scooters actually have trunks.

 

jeffe are you following me?

 

Shh. Someone besides you might notice.